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Icarus Festival for Dialogue between Cultures Welcome to the web page of Icarus Festival for Dialogue between Cultures. A few words about the Festival The festival takes place every summer on the Greek island of Ikaria in the North East Aegean Sea. The purpose of the Festival is to host performances by artists or groups whose music is a product of multicultural participation or inspiration. 2008 is the third year of it's activity. All concerts will be held within the forementioned townships. Starting time 9:45 pm Bus service will be available between cities the dates of the concerts General admission is € 10. Our goals The festival identifies with the myth of Icarus who soars over the frontiers and flies for freedom and acts in a daring way at any price. We invite artists who in their music incorporate elements of other cultures thus extending themselves, opening up, studying and therefore loving something beyond their own self. This music cultural dialogue can be also open between now and the past or any historical or any diverse artistic expression emerging from this same geographically place. We also feel that in order to open a dialogue one has to have an ability of appreciation and then knowledge of one’s own culture and an activity of an inter-cultural dialogue only adds up to focusing and defining one’s own culture. We usually prefer artists with original work. The beginning The festival is supported by the 3 municipalities of Ikaria: Evdelos, Agios Kyrikos, Raches and has been “born” from our common desire to create an event which will bring high quality music, ideas and ideals in an “unspoiled” environment which we all agree upon for the benefit of the Icarians themselves, the visitors and the artists participating. The island Yet another island in the northeast Aegean... However Ikaria has a way to stand out in the sea of the myriads of Greek islands. In the captivating myth of Icarus the open sea across the island becomes a place of the gloomy end of his ambitious and inspired flight. For this reason the very Hercules named this sea-Icarian sea and the neighboring island-Ikaria. Beyond the mythological importance of this place, the findings which come from the Neolithic and the Classical Ancient period reveal the special historical and cultural role of the island which continues into the modern times, embracing thousands of exiled communists with feelings of brotherhood, love and freedom. These characteristics of the Icarians are a driving force of the Icarus Festival for Dialogue between Cultures. It is about a cultural expression of a vision inspired by the history and the mentality of the island and its role in the thrilling myth. the festival’s goal is to welcome artists from abroad and from Greece to share their experiences in a cultural dialogue creating a magnificent mosaic of human expression.  This year the festival is dedicated to violin playing-violin being a favorite instrument of Ikaria. The last 3 concerts of this summer will be prologued by Ikarian artists introducing the local rhythms into the performances. The summer edition of the festival will conclude with the concert of a famous Rai music violinist Djamel Benyelles and the “U and Us” project. The Ikariotiko is not the only dance danced in Ikaria.We also tango! …so this summer we would like to offer free tango lessons, which will proceed the concert of Novitango, and invite you to join us in the Ikarian fests with your fortified dancing skills. The music journey …will continue… into the winter with other music concerts and seminars.
Artistic Director: Mayor of EvdelosICARUS FESTIVAL SECOND MEETING FOR DIALOGUE BETWEEN CULTURES IN IKARIA SUMMER 2007
We are continuing -for a second year- the venture that all three municipalities of Ikaria started last year. Icarus Festival is a grand and ambitious effort, well beyond the boundaries of our island. The performances we organized last year, demonstrated that we can contribute to the creation of cultural exchanges and to the cultivation of friendships and collaborations between artists and institutions from all places on earth. They also showed, that we can transform our island into a cultural crossroad and a hospitable meeting place (through music as well as the other forms of art) of the Greater European and Mediterranean plateau. For music and the arts in general, teach us, entertain us and inform us. Partners in this effort are the entire island of Ikaria, our visitors and friends and most of all our valuable artists, Greek and foreign, who join forces setting aside the price tag of their work. For they believe -and we also believe- that art and music is a gift for everyone and not a commercial venture. Without an even symbolical state assistance or subsidy, we proceed on our own on a course that will validate and establish “Icarus Festival for Dialogue between Cultures” in our place and the greater area, as an Ikarian panegyri and an Artistic event of the highest level. At the same time we invest in creating a valid infrastructure such as an open-air theatre and a Cultural Park for our island. With the invaluable contribution of important people of Music and esteemed members of our society, we are assured that “Icarus” will soon be one of the greatest summer events in Greece.
Stylianos Stamulos Mayor of Evdelos, Ikaria |
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